What cds do you think Geir would like that he probably doesn't have

dude give this a spin, some of the most astonishing melodies I've heard on a pop album in ages: http://open.spotify.com/album/4dC9zmdP2DoJ21ul5SA6LD

(for the record, it is To Arms Etc - Corner Games, a record I became aware of when its composer got in touch with me to offer encouragement regarding a band ad :D)

William Brittelle, Television Landscape

XX-Post. Sounding not bad at all. Even if the album cover looks like a Prussian Blue effort....

Not albums, but if your not privvy there's loads of contemporary (post) dubstep that's new-wave-ish keyboard heavy and super melodic without much of that cursed rhythmic complexity getting in the way.

e.g.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjucakm61Ng&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=i1uEajYT32Y

Hmmm... The Oslo disco scene sounds more melodic to me, actually. I can listen to electronica as long as it's harmonic (and most electronica is), but I have heard lots of electronica/dance with considerably more tunes than that.

How are you getting on with To Arms Etc? Main dude's an Aussie - any Prussian Blue similarities are entirely accidental!

blimey, 'd forgotten allabout them.

Well, the sounded OK to me, but at the same time I am a bit tired of those indie-esque low-fi pop acts. There have been a bit too many of those lately (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, The Shins, Fleet Foxes) and I'd be more excited about new stuff if it is more hi-fi/softrock oriented in its stylistic approach.

I mean, like, if some new band showed up with a lot of success and great reviews, citing 10cc, Supertramp, Pilot, Klaatu and Barclay James Harvest as their main influences. Now that would be something.

Did you give the Gayngs album a listen?

Geir, do you like Spoon? they have a mean melodic quirky-pop/rock instinct, nice catchy/hooky little songs usually about 3 minutes in length within a rock framework (drums/bass/guitar/keys at times). songwriting can recall beatles, kinks pretty frequently. seems like if you were to get into any modern indie-rock band, they'd be a pretty good candidate.

geir, have you listened to modry efekt?

I mean, like, if some new band showed up with a lot of success and great reviews, citing 10cc, Supertramp, Pilot, Klaatu and Barclay James Harvest as their main influences. Now that would be something.

have to agree, i would like this stuff as well.
on the promise of 10cc styled smoothness i tried gayngs and it didn't click with me.
also, mojos album of the year by john grant seems to get this type of referencing - have you checked that out geir ?
its available to listen in full via the Guardian best albums of the year section.

Well, the sounded OK to me, but at the same time I am a bit tired of those indie-esque low-fi pop acts. There have been a bit too many of those lately (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, The Shins, Fleet Foxes) and I'd be more excited about new stuff if it is more hi-fi/softrock oriented in its stylistic approach.

― You're Twistin' My Melody Man! (Geir Hongro), Tuesday, December 21, 2010 12:43 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

Hi Geir, this isn't really about a record you'd like but I thought you might be interested in making a few of your own recommendations to Everton footballer Leighton Baines. Seems you have a lot in common.

But he sounds like a complete twonk with really boring taste in music.

Geir, do you like Spoon? they have a mean melodic quirky-pop/rock instinct, nice catchy/hooky little songs usually about 3 minutes in length within a rock framework (drums/bass/guitar/keys at times). songwriting can recall beatles, kinks pretty frequently. seems like if you were to get into any modern indie-rock band, they'd be a pretty good candidate.

There are so

many

new Destroyer album? Ariel Pink's latest?

Both indie acts. Indie was fine during Britpop, because the Britpop bands had bigger production budgets and were truly interested in detailed productions. Today's indie pop is, well.. I wouldn't say I dislike it. It is all OK, and I have checked out and liked a lot of it. But it's sort of enough for now. And it would be fresher if somebody gave a damn about indie credibility and instead went for the entire 10cc/ELO/Supertramp package without even trying to be indie.

Here you go then. http://open.spotify.com/album/5ACiUxGxYu0hUTjM8A6mpq

His first solo album is VERY lo-fi. His second solo album is VERY hi-fi. Work that one out! You'll love this one though. Really.

As for Leighon Baines the only thing I see in common between the acts he namecheck is they are all white, male and guitar dominated. Which really means nothing at all in musical terms.

(That's Thomas White - The Maximalist, which describes the production style pretty well tbh)

X-Post: I already know Thomas White: http://rateyourmusic.com/list/GeirH/my_top_75_albums_of_2010
Pretty much fine, but will never ever make anything even remotely as good as Electric Soft Parade's debut album again. And not quite as hi-fi as, say, Crowded House or The Feeling either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TECQp0HdGZw

you love this guy. you have to love this guy.

I.e. something really exiting would be something like The Feeling or The Hoosiers, only with much better tunes, more production detail, more backing vocals and more stereo effects. The more the better.

Ah ok, fair enough! T White is a lovely, lovely dude as well. One of the friendliest people in the music biz. First ESP album was inconsistent for me but had some astonishing highs (Start Again, Silent To The Dark, There's A Silence, Biting The Soles Of My Feet). Also notice Field Music in your list - need to give 'em a spin...

Long shot, but you into Working For A Nuclear Free City?

A nuclear free city does indeed sound like a very good idea, but the band I have never heard. Except now. I listened to the material, and it sounded both melodic and indie. And luckily they are Brits, which keeps them a bit away from the standard Neil Young-influenced low-fi that has become a cliche in American indie these days. Might be really good with bigger budgets, because this sounds like a style of music that would benefit from not being indie nor low-fi.

But really, would be great if people would start making music like this again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQdBrR-Kpf0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcSjCDxoBPY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elhTaC6jr88
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28UBh_YB0cU

Give up all this low-fi-bullshit, pretend punk never ended and become SMOOTH and at the same time musically ambitious in a traditionally melodic way.

Here's a very good one off the new album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd9rYJxSYTg

Ooh, lots of Youtubes!

Well, Grandaddy were a fantastic band who adored ELO...can't think of many who still sound like them now, though. Wide-eyed melodicism has not really been 2010's forte.

Btw. one of the most wonderful things those four have in common is the wonderful way the backing vocals are, not only arranged, but also produced. With max stereo effect. Perfect!

Did you like "Stillness is the Move" by Dirty Projectors?

XX-Post: Grandaddy are definitely influenced by this era, but at the same time even they have that low-fi-twist which becomes a bit weary in the end.

The Dirty Projectors one sounded a bit weird... Working For a Nuclear Free City seem to have benefited from somewhat bigger production budgets though.

There are so

many

low-fi oriented American indie pop bands.

ahh, but see, Spoon aren't lo-fi at all; great production, lots of detail. nothing lo-fi about em!

give this 2 minutes & yr ears:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-S4nM5m_Kg

Geir, have you heard the William Brittelle album I mentioned above?

Try this song:
http://mohairtimewarp.com/sheenaeaston.mp3

Geir did you ever hear Of Montreal's Satanic Panic In The Attic album? Yeah they're indie but not at all lo-fi, it's a very well-produced record and I can definitely hear 10cc in there (along with a load of '60s soft/baroque pop of course). Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? is probably even more 10cc-like but also sort of new wavey.

Geir, did you ever hear Glasser?

of montreal is a great suggestion

I did check some Of Montreal stuff on Spotify, and sort of plan to digest them a bit more. They are of course just another Elephant 6 band and I think all Elephant 6 acts lack some things in terms of grandeur, production budget and pretention, but they do sound quite good.

I am really currently looking for something else than indie. Indie is fine and all that, but I would rather want more like that soft rock revival that happened in the mid 00s. Because, surely it did happen, but sadly acts like Scissor Sisters, Toploader etc. seemed sadly more interested in reviving Rod Stewart and Bee Gees than 10cc and Supertramp.

did you actually listen to the new Ariel Pink? the best songs on it are basically soft rock with nice production.

so what you are really saying is "when is the new Hanson album coming out"...?

geir what do you think of this synth pop song I wrote? http://soundcloud.com/fuguguffu/05-december

so what you are really saying is "when is the new Hanson album coming out"...?

No, I am not. The best 70s softrock had a lot of prog elements. Which is what made it so great. AOR has zilch prog elements.

X-Post Sounds rather cool to me :)

The best 70s softrock had a lot of prog elements.

Again: Brittelle.

hey geir do you like Emmet Rhodes? great beatlesy pop

Actually, in some strange way I have managed to avoid Ariel Pink, and I agree they have something to then. It's not like they are 10cc or ELO, but still better than most other critics darlings.

yeah, they're one of the very few indie bands i've really dug in the past few years

an Ariel Pink jam you might like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhwKup1AKd4

Well, to me, current indie is perfectly OK. In a way better than it used to be, but still aching for some pure melodic pop that is not indie.

And the past years I have found more of what I search in the electropop genre than in the indie genre.

indie *albums* i've dug, i should say. haven't gotten into any of the lo-fi stuff.

this kind of manic selectiveness is like the definition of bad taste

naw

Catching up on this thread, but two things that stand out at me, 1) I'm genuinely, non-trollingly curious as to Geir's definition of "indie" since there seems to be plenty of blanket dismissal of whatever he thinks this genre is, and, 2) I wish more "American indie" was as influenced by Neil Young as Geir seems to think it is.

oh god

X-Post: Indie = low-fi critics favourite underground music. In the case of indie pop it also has pop melodies.

Plus, well, I guess it has some kind of "twist" to it, some kind of unrest, either a low-fi production, a singer that doesn't hit the notes properly, or something like that. Not completely smooth like Crowded House or Jellyfish, both of which were obviously non-indie.

press play and enjoy:
spotify:track:0J7I0tWCrvDzLqyo43BP94

i want to know if geir likes the ariel pink song

It is OK. I mean, I like most indie pop, but I would have liked it better if there was less unrest in a way. Smoother, not trying to please punk oriented critics at all, but instead being everything punk was rebelling against. That is what I miss today.

o_O

please punk oriented critics at all

You do realize that many critics these days hate punk?

don't get how the ariel pink song is "trying to please punk oriented critics" one bit, but okay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrQRS40OKNE

you're welcome

hahahah O_O

geir here's an emmitt rhodes song (btw he's not a new guy)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu7Hbbx8_Xo&feature=related

I would say Emmitt Rhodes is the closest so far (and although having heard the name I haven't been very familiar with him). A bit like Martin Newell, maybe, which is a good thing. But typically not a new guy.

surely you're a Louis Philippe fan? he started out recording really lo-fi indiepop on Crepuscle and El Records in the mid-'80s, but since then he's progressed to lush, Brian Wilson-esque chamber pop heavy on vocal melodies and string arrangements. his album Azure might appeal to you, or maybe his most recent one, An Unknown Spring .

A bit lusher maybe, but the "twist" is still in there. Sounded OK though.

And, really, I have liked most of these, but Emmit Rhodes is the only one close to something I might actually love.

Geir did you hear the Montée album from last year? I think it's actually Norwegian:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c0TIWeI9Ms

yeah, the clip I posted comes from his early career, so I guess it has some indie do-it-yourself scrappiness about it. this is him at his most lush, fwiw:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYe5mtvrYss

(xp)

Geir, have you listened to the new Posies record, Blood/Candy? Much of it is very Dear 23-like in its production, melodies and arrangements, but it goes even further into some prog-type stuff, longer songs with more complex arrangements, etc.

Here's the first single "The Glitter Prize"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcNSYvJPNRg

Familiar with Montee, Matt. Yep, they are Norwegian.

Also maybe this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9Cw5Swlybk

And. hmmmm... it looks like Posies are worth investigating again. Haven't been for long, but that song is great.

This band, Pattern is Movement, remind me a lot of English Settlement-era XTC. Very pretty/melodious.
spotify:album:5gr8qqRHg1Np9KQFL80Knn

If you liked Dear 23 and/or Amazing Disgrace, you're gonna love this Posies record, I guarantee.

I didn't like "Amazing Disgrace" that much, but "Dear 23" is pretty nice.

Hey Geir, what do you think of The Nits and Field Music?

Posies are still going huh? Must investigate. :D

Great thread, btw - testament to the fact that Geir's taste, while narrow, incorporates plenty of good music :)

Field Music is on his Best-Of list, and I must hear it.

Also Geir what's your current taste in 3rd wave Prog, y'know Flower Kings type stuff.

Just checking out Kaipa, then will go for Karmakanic. Plus I agree with Classic Rock Prog that Syzygy are great. :)

Are they really that good? I ask because they really get hyped by Classic Rock as ALL THE BEST BITS OF THE GREATEST PROG BANDS.

I was kinda disappointed with the latest Field Music album.

(Tones of Town was in my top 5 of 2007.)

I think late period Nits might be up your street, if you don't already know about them Geir.

Are they really that good? I ask because they really get hyped by Classic Rock as ALL THE BEST BITS OF THE GREATEST PROG BANDS.

There will always be the controversy whether prog is supposed to progress or not. A lot of those who critizice Syzygy would also criticize Flower Kings and Spock's Beard, because they are heavily influenced by Genesis and Yes and don't "progress" enough.

Hey Geir

I ran across this band called The Young Sinclairs, they have played with Brian Jonestown Massacre I guess....

anyway, they kinda hit a sweet spot between the Byrds and mid-period Beatles. I wonder if you'd like this?

http://mp3.imposemagazine.com/The-Young-Sinclairs-Forever-After.mp3

http://mp3.imposemagazine.com/The-Young-Sinclairs-Up-Against-The-Wall.mp3

BUMP GEIR!!!!!

I'm not Geir, but that second Young Sinclairs song is very beautiful. thanks for sharing.

you might've already heard of these Norwegian guys, but I feel like posting this anyways:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNym7CZUhnM

yeah they really hit that mid-60s sound, good Proper Melodic Songwriting

that lionheart thing is nice too

That Lionheart Brothers song doesn't sound too bad. I have always associated them more with bands like Sereena-Maneesh, which is a bit too weird for me, but I know they have recently changed their style completely, so maybe they are more my thing now.

Young Sinclairs sounds OK too, but maybe too retro. Generally I was really into guitar pop in the 90s because there was little else to like, but lately I have been more into more 80s synth influenced stuff. The genius thing would be somebody who'd combine that 80s synth/electro sound with Beatlesque/Beach Boys-like/Queen-like vocal harmonies and songwriting.

I JUST WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY WHY WON'T YOU LET ME IN?

why dont you make it geir?

I think I am generally using the net myself to find the stuff I am most into, which is usually soft rock-ish and stuff that few on ILM would ever dream of recommending because they hate it themselves.

It's the discussion about Dodgy and Ocean Colour Scene again. They were more softrock oriented than the rest of the Britpop pile, and of course that is why all the "hip" people hated them more than any other Britpop acts.

ar kane - 69
richard strauss - metamorphosen
popul vuh - hosianna mantra

hey geir

what about vetiver? they are kinda soft rockish of a early 70s folkish stripe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klX5S35YDEI

Nice song, but at bit too "rootsy" and folkish maybe. Never been much into any kind of "low" music like folk/traditional is. I prefer more pomp and circumstance.

Btw. the recommendations of John Grant and Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti upthread proved to be right up my alley. Both riding high in my 2010 albums list now.

Geir do you like any of the more recent electronic Ulver albums?

Listening to them on Spotify now. Seems a bit too experimental and weird and noisy. Which is hardly a surprise. More industrial than synthpop.

Yeah i suppose they might be a bit experimental for you, do you like latter era talk talk?

I think Geir would like mike patton's adult themes for voice

do you like latter era talk talk?

I can listen to it (at least "The Spirit Of Eden"), but like their earlier work, much, much more.

geir you must like kings of convenience right?

Gear, do you like Once Around The World by It Bites?

Geir do you like Merzbow and Einsturwahtever Neubaten

I like Erlend Øye's solo album and work with Röyksopp much more. Kings Of Convenience have some nice songs but are what I would consider heavily underproduced. Mind you, I even consider David Gray, Elliott Smith and Badly Drawn Boy to be a little underproduced.

oh shit geir! you might like this local band from minneapolis called Claps, they are synth pop, remind me of OMD kinda

http://www.guiltriddenpop.com/artists/claps/01%20Fold.mp3

Regarding It Bites, yes I do. Struggled to find it and had to settle for it from iTunes as the CD seemed impossible to get. It does sound a bit dated production-wise, but the music is wonderful.

Right witcha!

oh shit geir! you might like this local band from minneapolis called Claps, they are synth pop, remind me of OMD kinda

Sounding not at all bad. Agree with the OMD reference, although a very Soft Cell like minimalist approach to the arrangements.

Geir do you like Merzbow and Einsturwahtever Neubaten

Obviously not. :)

hmmm here's a local dude called jeremy messersmith, the verses on this first song kinda remind me of a more organic ELO

http://jeremymessersmith.bandcamp.com/album/the-reluctant-graveyard

Geir what did you think of other britpop era bands like Lighthouse Family & M People?

Geir what did you think of other britpop era bands like Lighthouse Family & M People?

There are worse bands out there, but I didn't really care much about them either. "Moving On Up" and "High" were nice songs.

hmmm here's a local dude called jeremy messersmith, the verses on this first song kinda remind me of a more organic ELO

Not so sure about the ELO thing, but a nice light powerpop recording nevertheless.

yeah prob an overstatement just the piano reminded me of mr blue sky for a second

That particular piano beat is very 1967 psych pop-ish. McCartney used similar style(although slower) on songs like "With a Little Help From My Friends", "Penny Lane", "Fixing a Hole" and "Your Mother Should Know".

The faster version of the beat is remiscent of "I Want You To Want Me" by Cheap Trick.

What do you think of these guys Gear?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5spCRi5f8WM

Sounds a bit like Mew/Efterklang/Frisk Frugt/Oh No Ono maybe.

The current Danish postrock/art-prog scene is interesting, I kind of like it but don't love it. A tad too weird.

.. Badly Drawn Boy to be a little underproduced.

not these days, every ruddy album is a symphonic work.

Without the songs, grumble grum.

Here's one. Was very pleasantly surprised by their album of last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQvIc15j8Es

Geir, what do you think of Machiavel and similar mid-to-late 70s "broadway prog" bands like Saga and Nektar?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UutiLqRxx-0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPDDHk4XaB4&feature=related

That Machiavel song sounds great, and better than Saga, whom I am more familiar with. Saga had their moments, but lost something on trying to "rock" at the same time as being ambitious. Meaning they sounded a bit like second-rate Asia at times.